South African batsman Mark Boucher (right) shakes hands with West Indies' player Narsingh Deonarine at the end of the first Test match at Bourda Oval in Georgetown, Guyana, yesterday. The teams played to a draw. (Photo: AP)

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) - A defiant unbeaten hundred by Jacques Kallis that was exemplary in its discipline and absolutely vital in the context of the match, allowed South Africa to bat through the final day of the first Digicel Test against the West Indies to ensure a draw at Bourda yesterday.

Following-on for the first time in over three years and needing to bat almost five sessions to avoid going behind in the four-match series, the tourists were indebted to Kallis, whose meticulous 109 not out steered his team to safety at 269-4 in their second innings when opposing captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul acknowledged that he no longer had any realistic prospect of winning.

The match was called off as a draw with eight of the mandatory final 15 overs left to be bowled.

It would have been scant consolation to the regional team's captain to be named Man-of-the-Match on the strength of his unbeaten 203 out of a total of 543-5 declared in his side's only innings.

With former captain Brian Lara, along with Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, expected to return to the team for the second Test later this week in Port-of-Spain, speculation was rife even at the close of play as to whether the Guyanese would have been retained as skipper.

South Africa's Jacques Kallis celebrates after scoring a century on the final day of the first Test match against the West Indies at Bourda Oval in Guyana yesterday. (Photo: AP)

Try as he did in rotating his three frontline pacers and giving the part-time slow bowlers - including himself - a combined 71 overs during the course of the innings, Chanderpaul could not contrive to dislodge Kallis, who achieved two significant milestones during the course of his match-saving innings.

When he reached 55, he became only the second South African after Gary Kirsten to compile 7,000 Test runs, and in glancing Reon King to long-leg for his 100th run, the 29-year-old right-hander equalled Kirsten's record for the most Test centuries for his country at 21.

If it was not a delight to behold, coming as it did in 373 minutes off 316 balls with 15 fours, it will nevertheless be cherished by Kallis as one of the most important of his 90 Tests.

Resuming on the final morning in partnership with Jacques Rudolph, the big Western Province stroke maker was a pillar of solidity throughout a day blessed with the best weather of the match.

Yet he needed a slice of luck that, had it gone the other way, could have resulted in a very different finish to the match.

On 22, he edged a Chanderpaul delivery that Courtney Browne could not get his gloves to as it crashed into the wicketkeeper's pads.

The Barbadian, who is unfortunately remembered by unforgiving West Indian fans for a vital miss that allowed Australia's Steve Waugh to compile a critical double-century at Sabina Park 10 years ago, had earlier missed a difficult chance diving down the leg-side when Rudolph glanced a delivery from Darren Powell.

The left-hander eventually fell, palpably lbw for 24 to a Narsingh Deonarine delivery that barely got off the turf. At 119-3 an hour before lunch and given the manner of the dismissal, a decent crowd gathered at Bourda had every reason to believe that the expected variable bounce and West Indian bowling discipline would get the better of the South Africans.

But Kallis remained rock solid, and with Herschelle Gibbs restraining his usual belligerent style, the pair made the match safe with a 139-run fourth-wicket stand that spanned just over four hours and was only ended when Gibbs lost concentration in the first of the final 15 overs.

Within one run of an 18th Test half-century, he offered no shot to a Ryan Hinds delivery that pitched outside the leg-stump and watched in bewilderment as the ball brushed his front pad before clipping his off-stump.

Yet whatever disappointment the 31-year-old would have felt at missing out on the milestone would have been eased considerably by the fact that his innings of 207 deliveries with six fours was almost as important as Kallis' in ensuring South Africa drew the match with honour.

Mark Boucher, a joint top-scorer in the visitors' mediocre first innings total of 188, did as was required in the final minutes before the match was called off, extinguishing any lingering West Indian hopes and partnering Kallis on the walk back the pavilion to a heartfelt ovation from their team-mates and respectful applause from the disappointed local fans.

The placid nature of the pitch and the lack of genuine potency in the West Indies attack when it really mattered assisted the South Africans in their task. But those factors could not diminish the enormity of their successful rearguard, especially as uncharacteristic recklessness in the first innings had gotten them into deep trouble in the first place.

For a West Indies side not given much hope at the start of the match last Thursday, the overall performance would also have been encouraging, leaving both teams upbeat before battle is joined again in Trinidad on Friday.

SCOREBOARD

WEST INDIES 1st innings 543-5 dec

SOUTH AFRICA 1st Innings 188

SOUTH AFRICA 2nd Innings (85-2 overnight)

AB de Villiers b King 20
*G Smith b Collins 34
J Rudolph lbw b Deonarine 24
J Kallis not out 109
H Gibbs b R Hinds 049
+M Boucher not out 04
Extras (b16, lb2, w2, nb9) 29

TOTAL (4 wkts, 161 overs) 269

To Bat: A Hall, N Boje, M Ntini, C Langeveldt, A Nel

Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-68, 3-119, 4-258

Bowling: Collins 24-10-44-1 (1nb), Powell 28-15-46-0 (1w), King 24-5-54-1 (8nb, 1w) Hinds 14-5-16-0, Hinds 27-13-27-1, Deonarine 30-15-35-1, Chanderpaul 13-6-25-0, Ganga 1-0-4-0

Result: Match drawn

Man-of-the-Match: Shivnarine Chanderpaul

Umpires: Aleem Dar, David Shepherd

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